A battle to get insurance to cover necessary medical care for teenage sisters with bulimia nervosa has ended up with those teens being taken by Child Protective Services in Florida. Their mother is asking how it can be that an insurance company is able to direct CPS to remove children from their homes.
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) has accused Laura Dalton of "medical neglect," but the evidence provided to Health Impact News demonstrates that she is a dedicated mother who has been working tirelessly to secure the proper treatment for her daughters. In fact, one of the twins was seized from the hospital, where her mother had taken her the week before due to her dangerously low blood pressure and pulse.
The twins have suffered eating disorders after they were put into foster care in Michigan, where they were allegedly abused. They were healthy girls prior to that time, but as a penalty for allegedly smoking marijuana one time, they were removed from their home, and that is when their real problems began.
Both girls almost died in state care in Michigan, before their mother was able to get them back home. Once home, their mother looked for help for their eating disorders, and eventually found treatment options for them in Florida.
Statistics show that children who have been in foster care are 7 times more likely to develop bulimia and other eating disorders. Foster children are more likely to develop PTSD than veterans of war.
But now, after being recommended for a treatment plan that has showed great promise for the girls, their insurance will not cover it, and the mom has been reported to CPS for medical neglect.
One of the twins was immediately seized from the hospital, as the family's nightmare has begun all over again.

In a dramatic turn of events, Michigan twins Abbie and Alexis Odonnell have been returned home to their family.
In July, the family court told the teens' family that they were considering sending them to a facility in Boystown, Nebraska, and their family feared for their safety. (See story here.) All contact had been cut off between the twins and their mother Laura Odonnell, and there was a difficult 6 week period when Laura had no word about the twins at all. The situation looked hopeless.
But now the girls are home.
However, nothing prepared Laura for the condition that her twins were in when they were returned to her.

Laura Odonnell was shocked to see her 15 year old daughter Alexis arrived to court with a huge bruise on her face. Both twins show signs of being abused in state custody.
The Odonnell twins just want to go home and be together as a family again, but on Friday July 29th Judge Elwood Brown has approved a request from the state to send the Michigan teens to a juvenile facility in Boys Town, Nebraska. When Alyssa, 17, learned that her sisters were going to be sent 19 hours away from home for the next 4 years, she stormed out of the courtroom, visibly upset. For that, a bailiff threatened her with a tazer.
The Odonnell children were healthy before they were taken into state custody 2 years ago after allegedly trying marijuana. They were having a bit of difficulty adjusting to a new school, but the pot incident started a snowball of state intervention which keeps getting worse. Now, the twins are reportedly on a suicide watch, and are spending almost every hour of the day in isolation.
They never had any psychiatric or mental health concerns before entering state custody, but now Abbie has anorexia and Alexis has bulimia. Abbie seems to be turning the trauma inward, but Alexis, always the bolder of the two, is very angry and has been having meltdowns. Little wonder. Every time there is hope of coming home and being together again, their hopes are dashed. Laura wonders how they are going to hold on.

The Odonnell twins were healthy teenage girls before they went into Michigan state custody 2 years ago at the age of 13. They were talented athletes who participated in national cheerleading and gymnastic competitions. Now, their mother is literally afraid for their lives. Laura Dalton reports that her girls are very ill, but the state seems to be neglecting their medical care. Since they were taken from their home, Abbie has developed anorexia, and Alexis has bulimia - both serious eating disorders that are wreaking catastrophic damage on their bodies.
They got into some trouble, but their family wants to know when the state of Michigan will stop punishing them. Their time away from home and from each other has taken a huge emotional and physical toll on the twins. However, instead of working to get them the help they need, the state seems intent on punishing them even more. At the last court hearing, Laura was told that the girls are to be sent to a facility in Boys Town, Nebraska. All visitation has been cut off, and she is no longer being given information about their condition.
Laura is terrified for her daughters, who are now 15 years old. What she wants more than anything is for them to get the medical care they need.

A Michigan teenager was close to death in CPS custody in December, but advocates worked together to fight for her life. Abbie Odonnell, now 15, is much better, but now her twin sister Alexis, who remains in a juvenile detention facility, has deteriorated to the point where her family fears for her life. Her mother says: "She won't survive another 7 months."
Before Child Protective Services and the state of Michigan became involved in their lives, the girls showed no signs of any eating disorders. After being taken from their home and family, Abbie has developed anorexia and bulimia, and Alexis has bulimia.
It took social media and an article from Health Impact News on their Medical Kidnap website to get help for Abbie, whose condition had become very serious in December, and she is now on the road to recovery.
Now it is her twin sister Alexis who desperately needs help. Her family was alarmed when they saw the condition Alexis was in at court last week, with her hands and feet shackled, and the family has again reached out to Health Impact News and their readers for help.